Vultures in the church

Obey Sibanda Features Reporter
Fourteen-year-old Sibongile Dube (not her real name) is a Christian girl in Bulawayo nursing emotional and physical scars inflicted on her by her pastor. She no longer feels secure in the church after her pastor turned her into a sex slave.

The church is widely regarded as a place of worship, hospitality, justice, and healing but to the teenager it has become a house of horror.

“I used to attend this church (name supplied) for some time. One day the man of God told me that my family was haunted by evil spirits which were bent on killing my father. He said my father was going to die within a week and could only be saved by his praying for him. I begged him to pray for us to save my father. I had faith in him as a prophet. He then said I was supposed to fall in love with him if I needed to block my father’s death. He invited me to his house for special prayers. When I got there, he proposed love but I turned him down,” she said.

However, the pastor was not put off. He moved closer to the girl and started touching her intimately.

Sibongile offered meek resistance as she desperately needed the pastor’s help in exorcising the demons troubling her family.

“He then started undressing me and ordered me to lie down facing upwards. He opened my legs and raped me. I tried resisting but he said if I failed to cooperate, my father would die. I returned home and I didn’t tell anyone. He demanded to see me thrice a week and would rape me on each of the visits,” said the girl with tears streaming down her cheeks.

The poor girl subsequently contracted HIV and genital warts in her forced relationship with the “man of God”. Using the same modus operandi, the pastor lured a number of other girls from his church and would rape them at his house.

Cases of sexual assaults on vulnerable women and girls are becoming common in the church.

Hardly a week passes by without the Press carrying sad and shocking stories of women and girls who are raped by either church ministers or close relatives.

The pastors commit the crimes under the guise of exorcising demons, healing or during counselling sessions. After the act, the pastors employ all sorts of tricks to silence their victims that include intimidation, humiliation, isolation and anything that diminishes the victim’s sense of selfworth.

In April this year, a bishop from Binga, Ndangariro Ndlovu, was sentenced to 13 years in prison after raping a 13-year-old girl during an all night prayer meeting at which congregants reportedly drank Skippers spirits.

In another incident, a Pumula South woman is expecting after she was allegedly drugged and raped by a prophet, Amos Ngwenya, at his home in Emganwini during a prayer session. She was allegedly raped after she went to his house for a deliverance session following the death of her nine-month old daughter.

The most high-profile one involves Robert Martin Gumbura who is serving time for abusing some of his female flock.

“I was so scared and confused I didn’t tell even my husband until I realised I was pregnant. I went to the prophet’s house in confidence because I trusted him as a divine messenger who could solve my problems,” she said.

Most such rape cases go unreported because some of the victims are reluctant to expose their pastors for fear of victimisation or sanctions from fellow church mates.

A sociologist said more women are regular church goers and blindly follow their church leaders some of whom end up abusing them.

The sociologist said some women strive to compete for attention of the “man of God”.

“Instead of becoming pillars to reckon with, religious sects have actually turned into lions’ dens as attested by the rampant increase in numbers of vulnerable women and girls who are being sexually molested by church leaders and elders. The clergymen have perpetuated a rape culture through the use of misogynistic language, which creates social challenges that disregard women’s rights and their safety. Such church leaders portray women as sex objects,” said the sociologist.

Social commentator, Thomas Murisa, said it was shocking how some men continue to rape when there were many single women and widows who need men.

He said: “Pastors continue raping innocent, gullible worshippers. The country is teaming with hookers and some widows who may want to give marriage another chance. Why rape church followers? What diabolic spirit has possessed some men of the cloth? Who shall cast out demons and deliver those under torment? Clerics must get stiffer sentences because of their hypocrisy.”

Churches are perceived to be sanctuaries of hope for people with socio-economic and spiritual needs, but have instead been turned into dungeons of abuse.

An elder with a local church said there was no deliverance or even therapy that involves having sex with the pastor. “Sexual abuse has become heavily embedded in most religious institutions. Churches have become a haven of sexual abuse. It’s saddening that so much abuse is happening in churches. A church is supposed to be a place of refuge, but it has turned out to be a place of unimaginable evil acts of social abuse. There is no deliverance that involves having sex with a pastor,” said the church elder.

There has been a mushrooming of indigenous and Pentecostal churches in the country of late. In Zimbabwe there is no law that directly deals with the registration of churches. Churches are left freely to carry out their activities.

“There are now more self-styled prophets that seem to follow and uphold Christian values, but they have sinister agendas. All what is needed to establish a church in Zimbabwe is a microphone, persuasive voice, good command of the English language and the right kind of clothes. They prey on unsuspecting and desperate women and girls under the pretext of cleansing them of certain marauding demons,” said the church elder.

The Christian community wants churches to be registered and a law governing their operations implemented. They said law enforcement agents should monitor all churches.

“Anyone intending to establish a church must first be vetted and scrutinised before he or she is allowed to open it. Strict laws and policies must be enacted and the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) must monitor churches. They must question any suspicious characters in order to expose those with evil intentions which border on criminal activity. The police must keep out vultures that prey on vulnerable children and women. This will help curb cases of sexual abuse,” said Nomagugu Mlotshwa, a believer.

Tapiwa Muzanenhamo who worships at a city church said freedom of worship was fuelling sexual abuse cases in the church. He said the government should move in to curb or control the opening of more churches in the country. “More churches are established everyday and the government is not interfering in their operations. The government must certainly do something to deal with this lawlessness. There must be a law that prohibits church sessions conducted in private and secluded places as well as shrines,” said Muzanenhamo.

Studies show that sexually abusing children like Sibongile frequently results in mental problems, social exclusion, anger, low self-esteem, intellectual paralysis and numerous other psychological disorders. Violence, sexual abuse, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and early, unplanned pregnancies also traumatise young minds.

A Bulawayo magistrate who declined to be named said it was not enough for churches to come up with a code of ethics that will govern their operations without an enabling Act.

“Legislators in general are slow to react. Laws governing churches must be crafted to regulate the behaviour of church members. Those churches that will be found on the wrong side of the law must be banned,” said the magistrate.